In Where Winds Meet, leaving a sect isn’t only a menu choice. For most sects, the game turns it into a forced exit process with a Severance Trial, a special Perception Forest match where you’re flagged as a high-value target and can’t back out early.
Leaving a sect starts with “Betray Master”
Leaving is initiated from the in-game sect interface. The core flow is the same across sects that use Severance Trials.
Step 1: Open the start menu and select Sects. This takes you to your current sect’s page, where membership actions live.
Step 2: Select Betray Master (shown in the bottom-right of the sect screen). This begins the leave process immediately.
Step 3: Choose Confirm when prompted. After confirming, your status changes, and you’ll be treated as leaving even before the trial match happens.
Which sects require a Severance Trial (and the one exception)
Most early sect exits funnel into a Severance Trial in Perception Forest. One sect uses a different gate.
| Sect | What finalizes leaving |
|---|---|
| Well of Heaven | Severance Trial (Perception Forest) |
| Silver Needle | Severance Trial (Perception Forest) |
| Midnight Blades | Severance Trial (Perception Forest) |
| Nine Mortal Ways | Pay Elder Ni Laoshan 50,000 Coins (Harvestfall Village) |
What a Severance Trial is (and why it feels like a bounty hunt)
A Severance Trial is a special version of a Perception Forest event created specifically for players who are leaving a sect. The twist is social pressure: you effectively carry a bounty, and other players get extra rewards for defeating you.
Mechanically, it’s designed to prevent “leave, rejoin, leave” cycling with no friction. Once you’re in, the match itself becomes the gate.
How Severance Trials start: automatic matchmaking, not a manual queue
You don’t choose when to enter a Severance Trial. Once you leave a sect that requires one, the game starts searching for an active Perception Forest event with a slot that can accept you.
Step 1: Keep playing as normal after leaving. The game can pull you into the Severance Trial without warning.
Step 2: Don’t rely on being in the “right” mode. Solo vs Co-op doesn’t stop it; the pull can happen regardless of what you’re doing.
Step 3: Be ready for interruptions. The Severance Trial can override other activities and trigger in the middle of quests or even cutscenes.
Timing varies. It can take as little as about an hour, but it can also stretch much longer, depending on how many Perception Forest matches are active and how many open slots exist. When player activity is low, the wait can feel extreme.
How to complete a Severance Trial (you don’t have to win)
The key detail that trips people up is that “complete” doesn’t mean “win.” The match is the requirement.
Step 1: Once you’re pulled into the Severance Trial, stay in the match until it ends. Leaving early isn’t the point, and retreat options are disabled.
Step 2: If you get eliminated, continue through to the conclusion. Dying can still satisfy completion because the requirement is participation through the match end.
Step 3: Let the match fully conclude. Completion is tied to the match resolution, not to personal placement.
In practice, players who tried running regular Perception Forest rounds sometimes found that it didn’t clear the pending status; the special Severance Trial instance is what resolves it.
What changes immediately when you leave a sect
Once you trigger the leave flow, you’re removed from your sect’s structure and benefits. That includes losing your sect reputation, status, and rank, and losing access to the Sect Shop.
You still keep anything you already bought from the Sect Shop, including cosmetics and other items. The weapon unlocked when you joined the sect also remains unlocked.
Joining another sect while the trial is pending
You don’t have to wait for the Severance Trial to join another sect. The trial is about severing ties with the old sect; it doesn’t block you from stepping into a new one.
Rejoining and cooldown rules
After leaving a sect, you can rejoin after 24 hours of real time. When you rejoin, you don’t get your previous progress back; reputation, merits, and status are reset, and you return as a Novice Disciple.
There’s also a longer lockout in the other direction: after you rejoin a sect, you can’t leave again for six days. This is separate from the 24-hour rejoin timer.
If your screen says you need to “complete” a Severance Trial, the fastest path is usually patience: wait for the automatic pull into the special Perception Forest match, then stay until it ends.
